South Sulawesi on AIDS alert

PALU, Central Sulawesi: An AIDS prevention campaigner warned yesterday that the province should remain wary of the deadly AIDS, despite no case having been reported in the area so far.

Nafsiah Mboi said that as the number of Indonesians with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus rises in many provinces, Central Sulawesi is also vulnerable to the disease.

"I don't think the sexual behavior of people here is very different from that of people in other provinces in general," she said in a seminar as quoted by Antara.

She said that up to last month, the number of people infected with the HIV had reached 365 nationwide, many of whom have full- blown AIDS.

The majority of the HIV carriers are aged between 20 and 29, she said. (rms)